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direct a USC-funded film.)
    USC has a reputation for student films that are very Hollywood-like—that is, high production values, traditional three-act storytelling, and sometimes seriously large budgets. In 2006, USC grad student Ari Sandel won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for his twenty-minute student film, WEST BANK STORY—an intensely high-gloss comic riff on the classic 1961 musical WEST SIDE STORY. Sandel’s film is set in a fictional West Bank neighborhood, complete with competing falafel stands, real camels, and huge dance numbers with actors dressed in Middle Eastern costumes. If there’s a film school other than USC where students can top that kind of production, I’ve yet to hear of it.
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fter orientation, classes start. All first-semester graduate production students carry essentially the same course load. The instructors may be different, but the classes are the same, with minor differences.
    In my first semester at USC, I am taking a film history course with a professor named Drew Casper. I have a screenwriting course taught by Ross Brown. And I have a massive class called Production 507. Under the umbrella of this class, I have an acting course, a sound engineering class, a cinematography course, and a directing class. These specialties are taught by a variety of instructors, but there’s always one head-honcho instructor in charge of each 507 group. Five-oh-seven—that’s what it’s called. Not five-hundred-and-seven. Just 5-OH-7. USC’s film school has used the same class identifying numeric system for decades. Students don’t use the title of classes; they use the numbers. New students quickly get used to the notion. Soon, we all sound like mechanics discussing V-8 engines when we refer to our classes: I didn’t get a lot out of my 507, but my 546 was awesome. How’d ja like your 508? Pretty rough?
    The forty-eight of us in our semester are divided into three 507 subgroups. The only place we intersect is in our sound course, taught by a genius named Tomlinson Holman, the creator of THX surround sound. In all the other 507 classes—cinematography, acting, directing—I will spend almost all my time during the semester with fifteen other graduate production students in my 507 section. The only time I’ll interact with students from the other two 507 sections is in large group lectures (sound, film history) and in my one small screenwriting class.
    At USC, a film student taking a full load typically takes eight to ten credits per semester. It takes a minimum of fifty-two credits to graduate with a master of fine arts degree in film production.
    The program is not cheap. At the time of publication of this book, USC charges about $1,500 per credit, so a degree costs about $80,000 just for tuition. Add to that all the other costs of schooling, including class fees, insurance, books, transportation, and that all-important food and shelter. Some of my classmates run up tabs of $150,000 or more. Thesis films are self-funded, which means students foot the bill, and many USC thesis films run up serious mid-five-figure production costs. It’s not unheard of for students to rack up $150,000 or even $200,000 of debt.
    It’s an expensive place, and I’m acutely aware I’m spending my kids’ college funds to go to USC. I don’t want to dwell on it too much, but I’m spending close to $200 a day just for tuition.
    According to what little I have heard, the time commitment for 507 is pretty intense. I like hearing that because I want to get every last dime’s worth from the class. The rumor mill is already buzzing from the first day of classes. I hear gossip about students from previous semesters who dropped out because they couldn’t take the stress, about students who started eating too much or stopped eating, or started drinking like hard-living writer Charles Bukowski. I think this is a bit silly.